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Once the biggest smartphone brand on the planet, BlackBerry quickly fell from grace when the iPhone and Android phones started to take the market by storm. After years out of the market, the smartphone that started it all seems set to make a return, though experts say it will have a hard time maintaining relevance in a world dominated by more-established brands. “I don’t think BlackBerry will ever have as large a market share as it once did,” Christen Costa, a tech expert and CEO of Gadget Review, told Lifewire in an email....

The Bose SoundSport Free true wireless earbuds can be largely described in one word: sporty. But when you unpack the larger field of true wireless earbuds (and it has gotten large), it’s surprising how many of them seem to do away with the concept of workout-friendly earbuds and opt for a more premium, more luxury vibe. It’s refreshing, actually, that Bose has chosen a simplistic approach—largely creating the same design as the SoundSport Wireless earbuds, not offering any fancier features like noise-canceling and even going for a really simple charging case....

Who Needs a Mobile Printer Mobile printers are ideal for business travelers who may need to revise documents for sharing with clients while traveling. Because many mobile printers are self-powered or have alternate power sources, mobile printers are also well suited for anyone who works in the field and needs to print documents, such as contracts or receipts, on the go – e.g., salespeople, architects, and field service technicians. Specialty mobile printers such as compact, portable photo printers allow photographers and others who work with images to distribute their work on demand....

While some things carry over from the gas-powered vehicle world, there are also some new things to consider. When I say new things, I mean the big thing. The biggest thing. The battery. Range Finder Traditionally buying a used car meant firing up the engine and listening very carefully. Are the valves pinging? Is that detonation? Why is this thing not idling smoothly? Those issues are no longer, well, issues....

What Qualifies as a Refurbished Item When most of us think of a refurbished item, such as a cellphone or iPad, we think of something that has been opened up, torn apart, and rebuilt, like an auto transmission rebuild. However, in the electronics world, it’s not obvious what the term “refurbished” means for the consumer. An audio or video component can be classified as refurbished if it meets ANY of the following criteria:...

What Is a C File? A file with the .C file extension is a plain text C/C++ source code file. It can both hold an entire program’s source code in the C or C++ programming language, and be referenced by other files from within a C project. Note that some programs use a lowercase c file extension to denote a C source code file, and an uppercase C for C++, but that’s not required....

The Caixun Android TV 75-inch Smart LED TV EC75E1A is priced in the budget range, but it boasts some impressive specifications that are more or less in line with its more expensive, bigger name, competitors. Featuring a 4K UHD HDR10 display, Dolby Atmos, and built on the Android TV platform, Caixun’s 75-inch model looks and feels like a more expensive unit than it really is. I recently had the opportunity to take a Caixun E-series for a test drive in my own home theater setup....

Do Portable Cigarette Lighter Heaters Work? Cigarette lighter heaters are designed to convert energy from your car’s electrical system into heated air. The problem is they can only draw so much power, so the resulting heat is paltry. That also means they cannot stand in for a standard vehicle heating system. Car cigarette lighters are 12-volt outlets and most cigarette lighter heaters can deliver only around 150 watts of energy, which isn’t much when compared to a common blow dryer, which usually blasts up to 2000 watts of heat....

It’s a brave move. Google has honed its search engine for years, and it’s truly excellent, once you get past the product comparison junk on the first page. Even Bing, which has the power of Microsoft behind it, isn’t nearly as good as Google. Ethical search engines like DuckDuckGo know this. Instead of trying to index the web all over again, they combine results from various existing search engines. Brave is going at it alone....

To host video and audio calls on Android, you need to get a compatible app that has the features you want from FaceTime (and maybe some other features it doesn’t have). Once you’ve found the right one, get your friends and family to install the same app on their phones. Check out these alternatives to FaceTime for video calling on Android that are available at Google Play. Facebook Messenger Messenger is the standalone app version of Facebook’s web-based messaging feature....

Many Android devices offer expandable memory so their owners can increase their phones’ storage capacity. But those are Android devices; what about iPhones? Can you upgrade the memory on your iPhone? The Difference Between RAM and Storage In order to answer whether you can expand your iPhone memory, it’s important to understand the kind of memory you’re talking about. There are two kinds of memory used by mobile devices: storage for your data (Flash storage) and memory chips (RAM) that the device uses while running the operating system and apps....

Pantone Fan Guides Somewhat similar to the paint strips at a home-improvement store, the fan guides show blocks of several related colors with the color name or formula printed beside each color. The strips are fastened together at one end to support fanning the strips. Printed on coated-, uncoated-, or matte-finish stock, guides can be purchased separately or in sets. Binders and Chips These swatch books come in three-ring binders with pages of color blocks....

Luckily for us, Apple includes support for WINS in OS X and macOS, so we only need to confirm a few settings, or possibly make a change, to get the two systems to recognize each other on the network. File Sharing: Configure the Mac’s Workgroup Name This guide will show you how to set up the workgroup names on both your Mac and PC. Although the steps outlined are specific to OS X Mountain Lion and Windows 8, the process is similar for most versions of the Mac operating system, with just a slightly different item name showing up here and there....

According to Apple rumormonger extraordinaire Mark Gurman, Apple may still be working on a multi-device charging mat similar to its never-released AirPower product. And in the meantime, long-time Apple collaborator and accessory make Belkin is already onto version two of its MagSafe 3-in-1 charging pad. But other than making a great gift, what’s the point? “A universal charger design, whether USB-C or another standard, would absolutely be more useful, but also present fewer opportunities for Apple to sell new products,” Devon Fata, CEO of design company Pixoul, told Lifewire via email....

Google was expected to announce or release a Pixel Fold phone in 2021. The phone was never officially announced, but leaked documents, supply chain rumors, and Google’s debut of Android 12L (a version of Android for folding phones and tablets) suggested the Pixel Fold was underway. But according to a new report from Display Supply Chain Consultants (DSCC), that is no longer the case. “DSCC has confirmed with its supply chain sources that Google has decided not to bring the Pixel Fold to market,” Ross Young, CEO of DSCC, said in the report on the company’s website....

When big companies buy small companies, they might shut them down and strip the assets (the Gordon Gecko approach). They might keep the company running with promises not to change anything and then change everything (the Facebook-Instagram method), or they might just let everything tick along as it is, at the risk of forgetting they even own it (the Skype maneuver). But in the case of Bandcamp, the first question is, why did a video games behemoth buy an indie music platform at all?...

The social media platform introduced a limited set of Soundmojis to celebrate World Emoji Day on July 17, which put a special spin on the beloved visual communications tool by adding sounds that correspond to each emoji. According to Sanjaya Wijeratne, research scientist at Holler.io, Soundmoji is the latest development in adding expressive power to the tools we use to communicate without words. “The introduction of sound into emoji says that we are exploring and heading into more expressive ways of non-verbal communication,” Wijeratne told Lifewire in an email....

“The FTC’s commitment to enforcing privacy laws across smart devices and apps is fantastic news for consumers,” Tony Pepper, CEO of security vendor Egress, told Lifewire via email, “Any company found in violation can expect to face the consequences set out in the law they’ve broken, such as threat of injunction and financial penalties.” For the People In the letter, Kristin Cohen, FTC’s Acting Associate Director of Privacy & Identity Protection, explained that a person’s precise location and information about their health are two of the most sensitive categories of data that are often collected by connected devices, including smartphones, smart cars, and wearables....

Hard Drives Hard drives are still the most common form of storage in a laptop and are pretty straightforward. Generally, the drive will be referred to by its capacity and rotational speed. Larger-capacity drives tend to perform better than smaller ones and faster-spinning drives, when compared with ones of similar capacity, are usually more responsive than slower ones. However, slower-spinning HDDs do have a slight advantage when it comes to laptop running times because they draw less power....

Of course, I bought a pack of four for $99, but at least you have the option to go the less expensive route. That’s a change of pace for Apple, which is known as much for its high prices as its quality. But the AirTag is far more than just a cheap accessory, as it’s meant to help you keep track of your prized possessions. The idea behind the AirTag is hardly novel....